Greetings from the land of jambalaya

 
I’m currently at the Joint Readiness Training Center, at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Another not-quite-a-month of duty for the Army Reserve, preparing my unit for the coming deployment that I almost certainly won’t be part of. (There’s been a scheduling change; unless it changes back, that’s enough to take it past the point where I could still participate. I am severely disappointed.)

Two days ago was the point at which I officially hit twenty years of military service. Took me awhile; I joined later than most, then took ten years off after the first Gulf War, returning at about the point where many men my age — or younger — were retiring. I mentioned it to someone, and the next thing I knew, everyone in the detachment here at JRTC was presenting me with a card congratulating me. Nice people.

I’m still working at getting a contractor position. The recent changes in official policy, pushed through by our exalted political leadership, necessitate a lot of realignment in plans, but I still have some hopes. If I can’t go back into theater as a soldier, maybe I can do it in a support position. Downside? same people trying to kill me, just as earnestly, but I don’t get to shoot back. (Unless the rules have changed since the last time I looked.) Upside? better money, and something I might be able to keep doing after the Army officially writes me an exit ticket.

sroni and I, now that we’ve finished the Circle of Friends Remix, have returned to a fanfic we were working on before we kicked off the remix idea (which we had to push to the fore because I knew this JRTC rotation was coming up). The fic requires thirteen discrete segments, with a framing background; weeks ago, I had the background finished, and I’d already done five of my seven assigned segments while sroni had completed one of her six. Even with severely limited e-mail access, I can work on my remaining two segments independent of her, and she can be addressing her five remaining, so that within a week or so of my returning home, we should have another fic posted for the pleasure and assessment of our friends.

Plus, I have another idea I want to get out of the way so I can get started on a big idea I’ve had in the background for a very long time: I was planning it in 2003, for instance, and actually intended to tackle it in 2005 before I got caught up in other stories. With 44 current Buffy stories and four otherfandom stories (plus a snippet I did also in partnership with sroni), I’ve managed to stay adequately busy, but I’ve been putting this one off for long enough. I am now committed to doing it sometime within the next six months.

My wife managed to put together a deal wherein one of the stars of Army Wives will be hosting an event in our area, some of the proceeds to benefit the Family Readiness Group for my Reserve unit. She’s very excited about the prospect of meeting him.

My son is still doing well in China. I hope China remains stable for as long as he’s there.

And that’s the current state of the world of Aadler.